The following is a summary of “Clinical features of migraine with aura: a REFORM study,” published in the February 2024 issue of Pain by Thomsen et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study of a large adult migraine-with-aura population to characterize aura symptomology and features comprehensively.
They extracted data from the baseline characteristics of participants in the Registry for Migraine (REFORM) study. The participants were adults diagnosed with migraine aura who reported having at least four migraine days per month in the previous three months. In-person semi-structured interviews were conducted by trained personnel to capture details on the nature, duration, localization, and progression of individual aura symptoms.
The results showed 227 enrolled participants with migraine with aura, the average age was 41.1 years, with a predominance of females (n=205 [90.3%]). Visual aura was present in 215 (94.7%) participants, somatosensory aura in 81 (35.7%), and speech and/or language aura in 31 (13.7%). A single type of aura was observed in 148 (65.2%) participants, while 79 (34.8%) reported multiple aura types. Most participants (n=220 [96.9%]) described their aura symptoms as positive or gradually spreading. Headaches related to aura were noted by 218 (96.0%) participants, with 177 (80.8%) stating that the onset of aura symptoms preceded the onset of headache.
Investigators concluded that enrolling mainly from tertiary care, this study’s detailed portrait of migraine-with-aura patients revealed potential gaps in existing knowledge, potentially aiding future diagnoses.
Source: thejournalofheadacheandpain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10194-024-01718-1
